Last night we had dinner with Chaewon and I asked her:
“What do Koreans say when they receive good news?”
She looked at me, perplexed, “what do you mean?” she said.
“What do Koreans say when something wonderful happens?” I replied.
‘Like what?” she asked.
“Like suppose you won the lottery, bowled a perfect game and got accepted to medical school all in the same afternoon?
“What would you yell out?”
I could see hear searching for a word in her mind
“We don’t have a word for that” she finally replied.
What do you mean?!” I exclaimed 😉
“Americans have dozens of words they yell out when something great happens.
“AWESOME!”, “EXCELLENT!”, “PERFECT!”, “SWEET!” or “FKING Aaaaa!!…”NO WAY!!!”… REALLY!!!?”
She had nothing.
“We don’t have a word for that”, she said.
I couldn’t believe it, so I kept asking.
“Let’s say you’re at your college graduation and your best friend is getting her diploma, do you yell?”
“Right on Alice!” or ” You doth rock!!!” how about “Fantastic!”…….Anything like that?” I said.
I could see the wheels turning once again.
“No, not really,” she said, “maybe “Ne” (pronounced “Nay”)
“Oh, you mean “yes?” I replied. “OK, that’s a good start, ”
“Do you yell out “NAY!!” when something great happens?”
“No just Nay,” she said.
Satori Wind 